25 Apip(The Twenty-Fifth Day of the Blessed Month of Abib)

The Departure of St. Palamon, the Father of the Monks

On this day also, of the year 316 A.M., the saint Anba
Palamon the anchorite, departed. He was an anchorite in the Eastern Mount in a
town called El-Kasre and El-Sayad, district of Nagaa-Hammady, governorate of
Quena. The Devil was weary of tempting this father, and failed to overcome him.
The Devil took every chance to direct his snares against him.

One day, the man of God Anba Palamon rose up, took the
work of his hand, and walked toward the countryside of Egypt. While he was
walking in his way, he was weeping for his sins. The enemy of the good led him
astray in the mountain, for seven days, until he was close to death from hunger
and thirst, for it was summer. Finally, he collapsed, fell on the ground,
wishing to die. God, the lover of mankind, wished not to leave His servant Anba
Palamon fall prey to the devil, so He ordered the devil to leave him. When the
old man realized that, he cried saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ help me." Instantly
he heard a voice saying to him, "Do not be afraid, for the enemy can not
overcome you. Rise and walk a short distance to the south. You shall find a
righteous old monk whose name is Talasoun. Tell him about all that the devil has
brought on you, and the grievous sin that he tempted you with in your young age.
He will pray on your behalf so that your sins will be forgiven." The blessed
Anba Palamon rose up, carried the works of his hands, and walked in the mount
reciting Psalm fifty four, "Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by
Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth. For
strangers have risen up against me, And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with
those who uphold my life. He will repay my enemies for their evil. Cut them off
in Your truth. I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD,
for it is good. For He has delivered me out of all trouble; And my eye has seen
its desire upon my enemies." He also recited Psalms 68, "Let God arise, Let His
enemies bescattered; Let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is
driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked
perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; Let them rejoice
before God; Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly." He did not cease praying until

God guided him to the place of Anba Talasoun.

When Anba Talasoun saw him, he rejoiced exceedingly,
greeted him, held his hand and pulled him up the rock where he lived. They
prayed, then sat down talking about the greatness of God. Anba Talasoun asked
Anba Palamon about how he found his way to come to visit him in this wilderness.
Then Anba Palamon started crying and kneeled, saying, "Please forgive me O my
beloved holy father." Anba Talasoun said, "The Lord Jesus Christ forgives to all
of us all our transgressions." Anba Palamon replied saying, "I am ashamed to
tell you, O my holy father, about the enormous sin that befell me by the Devil
without knowing." Anba Talasoun told him, "It is written 'Confess your faults
one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.'"

When Anba Palamon saw that the blessed Anba Talasoun
was comforting and encouraging him, he started to tell him, "While I was living
in the monastery, I asked God to forgive me my sins. I also read in the holy
books of the fathers which are inspired by the Spirit of God, that solitary life
brings forth the fear of God, and God despises mockery and laughing for no
reason. So I decided to live a solitary life in my small home, to not talk to
anyone, and never to laugh, but to cry on my sins by day and night. The Devil
often fought against me. He tried to please my heart with laughter but I did not
heed him, and I never cursed. I fought for a long time through these
tribulations, steadfast in the salvation of our Lord Christ until the enemy was
wrath with me. One day I took the work of my hands, walked in the mount to go to
sell it and buy a little of bread. After I was at a considerable distance from
my abode, the Devil captivated me, and right away I lost my mind. He removed the
Name of God from my mouth and I was no longer reciting the Divine sayings. The
mount changed entirely before me, the sandy earth became black. When I looked
before me I saw a new city, had splendid buildings, magnificent houses, rich
palaces, and the city had shining armored gat which was fortified as a city of a
king, surrounded by trees and gardens. When I saw it, I wondered about this city
and its great distinction.

"When I inclined to enter the city thinking that its
people might buy from me the work of my hands. As I came close to the walls of
the city, I found a turning water wheel (sakieh), and I saw a sorrowful woman.
Her face was very gloomy. Her clothes were torn and her veil covered her eyes
for the sake of decency. She was standing beside the well, running the water
wheel and watering the vines. When she saw me, she sat down, covered her head
and said, 'Bless me O my holy father.' In hast she put down the baskets before
me then said, 'Sit down and rest O my beloved father for you had become tired
from what you have carried.' She sat me down beside running water, she took
water in her hands, poured it on my feet, and washed them as someone taking
blessings. She acted as a woman of a rich man. I asked her, 'O faithful woman,
tell me, if I enter this city with the work of my hands would I find one who
would buy it from me?' She said, 'Yes, they would buy it from you. Nevertheless,
leave it and I will buy it from you, and I will give you all that you need. For
I was married to a rich man who died recently and left me much money and herds
of cattle. I pick the fruits of these enormous vines, and I do not have anyone
to oversee it. I wish to have a man like you, to whom I can hand all my
possessions, to handle the way he sees fit. So if you accept, O my holy father,
to come and oversee my house and to take charge of all my possessions, I will
take you as a husband.' I replied, 'If the monk gets married, shame and disgrace
follow him.' Then the woman told me, 'If you do not take me as a wife, be an
overseer for my possessions. You supervise it during the day, for I own fields,
cattle, barns, vineyards, slaves and maiden servants, and when the night falls
you shall fulfill your prayers.' Then she rose up, and took me to her house. She
prepared a table of different kinds of foods and placed it before me.

Afterwards, she went to her room, and put on expensive and
extravagant clothes, then came and embraced me. I was surprised and I held fast
to the power of God almighty, and crossed myself with the sign of the cross. All
that I saw immediately vanished as the smoke before the winds, and nothing of
what this woman did remained.

"Instantly, I realized that all of this was the doing
of the Devil who wished to make me fall in sin. I cried bitterly, and regretted
much what I had done. The Lord had compassion on me with His tender mercy, and
sent me His angel who comforted me, and promised the forgiveness of my sins and
told me, 'Go to the saint Anba Talasoun who is nearby you, and confess to him
your sins. Tell him that you have come to him so that the Lord may forgive your
sins through his prayers.'" The saint Anba Talasoun prayed saying, "O my son may
the Lord forgive you and myself." Subsequently, a table came down from heaven,
they ate, then Anba Palamon returned to his place of worship in peace.

This Saint received the gift of healing from God. The
beasts were friendly to him, he fed them by his hands, and they licked his feet.
He lived naked, so God lengthened his hair until it covered his whole body. He
fasted the whole week, only ate on Saturday and Sunday. He ate a half loaf of
bread that God sent him with the raven. Often he ate from the vegetation of the
mount. He was merciful, compassionate, and tender like His creator. When the
night fell, he went down from his place of worship, to visit the prisoners,
orphans, widowers, those in trouble, and the sojourners, as his strength allowed
him, to help them from the price of the works of his hands.

St. Palamon was fervent in his asceticism and worship.
He persevered, all the days of his life, in the daily and nightly prayers, and
watching all night in ascetic worships. St. Pachomius, the father of the
monastic cenobite, was the disciple of this saint. When St. Pachomius rejected
paganism and adopted Christianity, he wished to live a life of asceticism and
worship, so the priest of his hometown directed him to go to the great hermit
Anba Palamon. Pachomius handed the care for the poor and the needy in his town
to another elder monk, and went to Anba Palamon. When he arrived, he knocked the
door of his cell. The old man looked from an aperture and asked him, "Who are
you O brother? and what do you want?" Pachomius answered hastily, "I, O blessed
father, looking for the Christ the God Whom you do worship, and I beg your
fatherhood to accept me and to make me a monk." Abba Palamon told him, "O my
son, monasticism is not an unrestricted labor, and the man does not come into it
as he pleases, for many had adopted it not knowing its hardships, and when they
adopted it they could not endure it, and you have heard about it without knowing
its contention."

Pachomius replied, "Do not turn my request, and my
desire, and do not put off the flame of my zeal. Accept me, be patient with me,
and examine me, and afterward do whatever you see fit with me." The old man told
him, "Go, O my son test your self alone for a period of time, then come back to
me for I am willing to labor with you as much as my weakness allows so you might
know your own self. The monastic piety needs toughness and asceticism, and I
will teach you first its extent. Then you go and examine your self if you could
endure the matter or not. My intent in that, God knows, is for the sake of your
teaching and discipline and not for any other reason. When we, O my beloved son,
knew the vanity and trickery of this world, we came to this distant place, and
carried on our shoulders the cross of our Christ, not the wooden rod, but the
overcoming of the flesh, subduing its lusts, and wasting its power. We spent the
night praying and glorifying God. Often we vigil from sun set till the morning
praying and working much with our hands, making either ropes, braid palm fibers,
weave palm leaves or hair to resist sleep and to have what our bodies need and
to feed the poor as the apostle said, 'remember the needy.' We entirely do not
know the eating of oil, cooked food or drinking liquors. We fast till the
evening of the summer days, and two days at a time during the winter then we
break the fast by eating only bread and salt. We keep away the boredom by
remembering death, and how close it is. We refute every pride and exaltation and
guard ourselves from evil thoughts by humility and piety. By this ascetic strive
that is accomplished by the grace of God, we offer our souls a living sacrifice,
acceptable to God, not only once but many times. For according to the strive and
how much we exert ourselves in it, we realize spiritual gifts, remembering the
saying of the Lord, "Those overcame themselves, seize the Kingdom of Heaven."

When Pachomius heard from Abba Palamon these sayings
that he never heard before, he was more assured by the spirit, and was
encouraged on facing the hardships and endure the pains. He replied saying, "I
am confident in the Lord Christ first, and by the support of your prayers
second, I would be able to fulfill all the precepts, and persevere with you till
death."

Pachomius then kneeled before him and kissed his hand.
The old man preached him and instructed him about the importance of mortifying
the flesh, the humility and contrition of the heart. He told him, "If you kept
what I told you, did not go back, or vacillate between two opinions, we will
rejoice with you." Then he told him, "Do you think my son that by all what I
mentioned to you from asceticism, praying, watching and fasting we ask for the
glory of men, no my son, it is not like that. We lead you to the works of
salvation so we would be blameless, for it is written every apparent thing is
light, and we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of heaven. Now go
back to your abode so you might examine your self and test her for few days for
what you are asking is not an easy task."

Pachomius answered him saying, "I have examined myself in
every thing, and I hope with the Grace of God and your holy prayers, that your
heart would be pleased toward me." The old man answered, "Well."

Anba Palamon accepted him with joy, then left him for
ten days testing him in prayer, watching and fasting. Three month later and
after he tested his patience, endurance, strife and will, he prayed over him,
clipped off his hair, and put on him the garb of the monks (El-Eskeem) in year
304 A.D.

They persevered together on asceticism and prayer as
they worked in their spare times in weaving hair and knitting clothes to gain
their bare necessities, and what they spared they gave to the needy. Whenever
they were vigilance and the sleep overcame them, they went out their cells and
moved sand from one place to another to exhaust their bodies and remove the
sleep away from them. The old man went on preaching the young man and
encouraging him saying, "Be courageous O Pachomius, let your devotion to God
always be flamed with the fire of love, and be before Him, in fear, humility,
and persevering in praying and kneeling without boredom. Be watchful lest the
tempter examine you and grief you."

It came in the biography of St. Pachomius in a
manuscript in the monastery of El-Baramous the following:

One day someone knocked on the door of Sts. Palamon
and Pachomius to visit them, and he spent the night with them. The pride and
self-reliance had overcome that person. While they were talking about the words
of God and before them was fire, for it was winter, the guest told them,
"Whoever of you has strong faith in God, let him rise up, stand on this blazing
embers, and recite the prayer which the Lord had taught to His disciples." When
the old man St. Palamon heard that, he admonished him saying, "Cursed is the
defiled devil who planted this thought in your heart. so stop talking." The
guest did not head to the words of the old man and said, "I, I would." He rose
up and stood on the blazing coal while saying the Lord's prayer slowly. Then he
stepped out the fire which did not touch his body with any harm, and went to his
abode with arrogance. Pachomius told Anba Palamon, "God knows

that I marveled about this brother who stood on the amber
and his feet did not burn." The old man replied saying, "Do not be amazed for
there is no doubt that this from the work of the Devil. The Lord had allowed his
feet not to be burned as it is written to the crooked, God sends crooked ways.
Believe me O my son, if you know the torment that is prepared for him, you will
be weeping for his wretchedness."

The Devil came to this man in the form of a woman and
enticed him to allow her to enter his cell. Because of the pride and the
blindness of his perception, he did not realize the danger that surrounded him.
The lust filled his heart toward her, and immediately the devil struck and threw
him on the ground and he remained as a dead man for a day. When he regained his
conscious and his faculties, he went to Abba Palamon weeping and remorseful for
what he had done. He asked for their help and prayers for the devil had
captivated him by his own free will. While he was talking to them, the old man
and his disciple were weeping, the evil spirit suddenly came over him. He went
to the mountain, and he lost his mind. He was astray for a period of time, then
he threw himself in a fire which burned him. When the old man knew that, he was
grieved. His disciple asked him, "How God allowed this to happen to him after he
confessed and asked for repentance with tears and remorse." The Abba answered,
"God with His foreknowledge knew that the repentance of this brother was not
sincere, so He allowed him to reap what he did."

While St. Pachomius was still staying with his teacher
Anba Palamon, one day he was wondering in the wilderness, and he came to the
village of Tabanseen. When he was praying, the angel of the Lord appeared and
told him, "O Pachomius, with the order of the Lord, build a monastery in the
spot that your are standing on, hence many will come to you seeking
monasticism." He returned to the old man Anba Palamon and told him what the
angel had told him, and his intention of fulfilling the Will of God. Anba
Palamon was sad for the departure of his disciple and said, "How could you leave
me after seven years you spent with me in obedience and submission and I am an
old man. I see that it is easier on me to accompany you than you leaving me."

They moved south until they came to Tabanseen, and
started to build a monastery. That was in the year 311 A.D., and Pachomius was
thirty years old. When they finished building the monastery, Anba Palamon told
his disciple Pachomius, "My beloved son I long to return to my cell and the
place of my solitude. I had known that God had appointed you to establish this
monastery, which will grow and be filled with God pleasing monks. You shall
receive power and long suffering to manage them. As of myself, I have became
old, weak, and the time of my departure had drew near. So I see that my solitary
life is best for me. Nevertheless, I ask from your kindness that you do not
deprive me from seeing you from now and then. I shall come to visit you as the
few days left for me allow." They were separated after they prayed with each
other, and they visited each other. In one of the visits of Anba Palamon, he
became ill and departed to the Lord that he served and loved since his young
age. Anba Pachomius took the blessings of his teacher, shrouded and buried him.

Many wonders and miracles have been attributed to this
saint. An ancient church in his name is located in the town of El-Kasre and
El-Sayad in a monastery named after him which had other churches in the name of
the Virgin St. Mary, the archangel Michael, St. Mercurius Abu-Saifain, and St.
Demianah. A great festival celebration is celebrated annually in his feast day.